Combined internal-combustion engine and supercharger



April 5 A. 5. KING 2,547,327

COMBINED INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE AND SUPERCHARGER Filed April 22, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 f" 2 INVENTOR. fi' Ari/7w 5. K17? April 3, 1951 A. 5. KING 2,

COMBINED INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE AND SUPERCHARGER Filed April 22, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lj 4. v INVENTOR.

Patented Apr. 3, 1951 COMBINED IN TERNAL-COIWBUS TION ENGINE AND SUPERCHARGER Arthur S. King, Kansas City, Mo.

Application April 22, 1946, Serial No. 663,989

2 Claims.

I This invention relates to internal combustion engines and has .for its primary aim to provide a supercharger or pressurizing structure for internal combustion engines that is located in. the crank case and operably joined directly to the crank shaft of the engine.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an internal combustion engine with a specially disposed and constructed supercharger for the fuel mixture which supercharger is positioned within the crank case of the engine and directly driven by the crank shaft to serve as means for drawing fuel and air into the engine and for pressurizing the fuel mixture prior to its movement to a point of combustion within the cylinder.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an internal combustion engine with a supercharger housed within the crank case of the engine; to provide structure for controlling the en-. trance of air into the engine via a port adjacent to the supercharger; and to provide means for gearing the supercharger impeller to the conventional parts of the engine for the purpose of driving the impeller at a desired speed in excess to the speed of rotation of the crank shaft.

Other aims of the invention will appear during the course of the following specification referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view through an internal combustion engine having a supercharger assembled therewith in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the irregular line IIII of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View through a portion of an internal combustion engine showing a supercharger assembl therein which is made pursuant to a modified form of the invention; and

Fig. 4 is a similar sectional view through an internal combustion engine having a supercharger therein constructed in accordance with a further modification of my invention.

It has heretofore been the practice to add superchargers to internal combustion engines by building the supercharger separately and afiixing the same to the block of the engine and then providing some suitable drive for the supercharger to the end that pressurized fuel mixtures are directed into the cylinder of the engine for compression and explosion. Small engines of the type conventionally emplo-yedin model airplanes for example, cannot have their weight increased by an objectionable amount of structure disposed exteriorly of the engine and, therefore, .a supercharger housed within the crank case of the engine block is a desirable feature.

The supercharger and engine arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2 embodies my invention in one of its preferred forms. The numeral Ill desi nates the crank case of the internal combustion engine with which is associated a cylinder l2, a piston It, a crank shaft l6 and a connecting rod 1 8. The connecting rod is secured to crank shaft it through the medium of a counter-weighted head 20. An air intake port .22 communicates with an impeller 28 and a conduit 24 interconnects an intake port 26 leading into cylinder l2 and that portion of the crank case I 0 wherein the impeller 28, is disposed.

This impeller freely rotates about crank shaft l6 and the impeller and crank shaft 28 and L6 respectively, are mounted in a bearing 32, as clearly shown in Fig. l.

A fuel intake opening 34 communicates with intake port 22 and a flutter valve 36 is pivotally mounted for rotation about pin 38. This flutter .valve 36 is so positioned as to open when air is being drawn in through port'22 and to close the port when a pressure is built up within the crank case Ill. A port 40 interconnects conduit 24 and cylinder [2 at a point below port 28 and the distance between these two ports 26 and 40 is less than the length of piston I 4. Thus, when said piston is in the lowermost position as illustrated in Fig. 1, port it is closed and port 26 is entirely open. An exhaust port 42 is also open when piston M is at its lowermost point in its'reciprocating path of travel. A ring gear 44 mounted Within crank case in meshes with a pinion 4 6 and this pinion is rotatably mounted on pin 2-8 that may extend through head 2%} and serve as a common means for interconnecting head 2?] with connecting rod l8 and pinion 45. This pinion 45 freely rotates on pin 48 and meshes withgear 5i rigid to one end of the hub '52 of impeller 28. Thus, as crank shaft 16 is rotated by the action of piston I4, impeller 28 will be driven at a speed of rotation appreciably greater than the speed of crank shaft IS. A high speed supercharger or pressurizing instrumentality is thereby built directly into the crank case of the engine and mounted directly upon its crank shaft l6.

Impeller 28 has a series ofsubstantially radial blades 54, the inner ends whereof are spaced from hub 52 and cupped as at 56 to form'scoops for the fuel mixture entering the crank case in front of impeller 28. Such pressurized fuel mixture as may be entering cylinder l2 when piston l4 In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 3, v

the engine crank case I has an air and fuel intake port I02 with a flutter valve I04 of the same character as above described with respect to the engine shown in Fig. 1. Crank shaft I06 is joined to connecting rod I08 by head H0 and a passage H2 is formed in the engine block to convey the pressurized fuel mixture to a point above the piston, not here shown, when the said piston is at the lowermost end of its path of travel.

Impeller H4 is mounted upon a shaft H6 and is driven directly by a pin H8 that interconnects head H0 and connecting rod I08, and extends a distance beyond connecting rod l08 to have its end journalled in a socket or suitable bearing I in impeller H4. Thus, in this form of the invention, impeller H4 will constantly rotate at the same rate of speed as the speed of rotation Q of crank shaft 105. Impeller H4 is formed in substantially the same way as is impeller 28, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 4 crank case 200 has a crank shaft 202 mounted within a bearing 203, an intake port 204, and a valve 206 rotatably mounted upon bearing 203. Impeller 210 is mounted directly on crank shaft 202 by being attached to head 212 to which connecting rod 214 is joined by pin 216.

' Valve 206 is cylindrical and attached directly to impeller 210 for rotation therewith. A circumferential groove 208 provided in valve 206 registers with intake port 204 during a part of the time when valve 200 is rotating upon bearing 203. Piston 2H8 reciprocates in cylinder 220 and a passage 222 supplies fuel mixture to cylinder 220 in precisely the same manner as set forth with respect to the form of the invention shown in Fig. 1.

An exhaust port 224 evacuates cylinder 220 when piston 2 I8 is in the position shown in Fig. 4. In this instance, the speed of rotation of impeller M0 is the same as the speed of rotation of crank shaft 2l2.

In all forms of my invention illustrated in Figs. 1, 3, and 4, the intake ports 22, I02 and 204 respectively, are disposed in such manner as to direct the fuel mixture into the crank case at the axis of rotation of the impeller. The rapid speed of rotation of the impeller will force the mixture radially outwardly along the vanes of the impeller and thus pressurize the mixture within the crank case by centrifugal force. This mixture will thence pass into the cylinder under constant pressure built up through the action of the impeller.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an internal combustion engine having a housing provided with a crankcase, a crank shaft, and a piston in the cylinder operably connected to the crank shaft; a rotatable impeller in the crankcase; means for directing fuel and air mixture to the impeller at the axis cf rotation of said impeller; a conduit formed in one of the walls of said housing and disposed to direct said mixture from the periphery of said impeller to the cylinder on one side of the piston when the latter is at one end of its path of travel; and means for redirecting said mixture into the housing at the opposite side of the piston when the latter is at the opposite end of its path of travel.

2. In an internal combustion engine having a crank case, a crankshaft, a cylinder, and a pis-' ton in the cylinder'connected to the crank shaft,

- an impeller rotatably mounted in the crank case;

structure interconnecting the crank shaft and said impeller for rotating the latter as the engine is operating; a fuel mixture intake port in the crank case adjacent to the axis of rotation of said impeller, said structure including a train of gears formed for rotating the impeller at a rate of speed greater than the rate of speed of the crank shaft; and a conduit interconnecting the crank case and the cylinder to cause the fuel mixture to move to the cylinder after being pressurized in said crank case by the impeller, said impeller being formed to draw the fuel mixture into the crank case and to pressurize the fuel mixture in the latter by centrifugal force.

' ARTHUR S. KING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 494,602 France of 1919 

